Echevarria v. Tejada
- Laura Swain
- 1:23-cv-07670
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Echevarria v. Tejada, Judge Swain ordered Echevarria to pay the fees or submit prisoner authorization within 30 days.
Edwin Echevarria, an incarcerated plaintiff representing himself, must either pay the required fees or submit a prisoner authorization within 30 days for the action to proceed.
What happened
In Echevarria v. Tejada, Edwin Echevarria, who is incarcerated and proceeding without a lawyer, filed a civil action and requested permission to proceed without prepaying filing fees.
Echevarria submitted the required application but did not submit a prisoner authorization. The court gave him 30 days to either pay $402 in fees or submit the authorization, which allows installment withdrawals from his prison account.
Judge Swain ordered that no summons issue yet and said the case would proceed through the Clerk’s Office if Echevarria complied. The court also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees and warned that the action will be dismissed if he does not comply within the deadline.
The detailed version
- Echevarria v. Tejada · No. 1:23-cv-07670
- Laura Swain
- Oct. 12, 2023
Background
Edwin Echevarria, who is incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility and is representing himself, brought this civil action against Charles J. Tejada and other defendants. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying the fees, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
Filing-fee requirements
The court explained that a prisoner bringing a civil action must either pay $402 in fees—$350 for the filing fee and $52 for the administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepayment. If that request is granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and to provide the court with certified account statements for the previous six months.
Within 30 days of the order, Echevarria must either pay the $402 or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 23-CV-7670 (LTS). The order also notes that a petition challenging custody under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 would have a $5 filing fee and would not require a prisoner authorization.
Ruling and consequences
The court ordered that no summons issue at that time. If Echevarria complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office’s procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.